Mr. Xiting Zhuang, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Connecticut
Ms. Alicia Barriga, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Connecticut
Seminar Title:
Mr. Zhuang: “Global Trade Effects of Tightening Environmental Standards in China”
Ms. Barriga: “The Effects of Migration on Malaria Incidence in the Brazilian Amazon”
Abstract:
Global Trade Effects of Tightening Environmental Standards in China
Abstract: The considerable increase in global waste trade and its negative impact on human health and the environment have become central policy issues. As one of the leading waste importing countries, China has recognized these issues and started to tighten its environmental policies by introducing import standards and enforcing special campaigns. This paper estimates the effects of these policies on global waste trade using detailed monthly trade flow data at the product-level for the period from 1995 to 2018. We use difference-in-difference techniques to evaluate the counterfactual effects of these environmental trade policy changes. Our empirical analysis is motivated by an oligopolistic trade model that argues for trade destruction and deflection effects of binding environmental trade policies. The results show that Chinese import standards have no impact on global waste trade as we find no evidence for trade destruction or deflection effects. However, we find strong evidence for a reduction in Chinese imports and a significant increase in waste trade between other countries due to recent enforcement campaigns. Our results also show that these temporary trade policies induced the deflection of waste trade to other developing countries. Therefore, our findings raise concerns about leakage effects of environmental trade policies that have been so far largely neglected.
The Effects of Migration on Malaria Incidence in the Brazilian Amazon
Abstract: This research explores the effect of the recent Venezuelan exodus on malaria outbreaks in the Brazilian Amazon. In the last years, migration skyrocketed due to recurrent economic and political crises. Migrants heading to Brazil commonly travel by land, crossing the Brazil – Venezuela Border in Pacaraima - Roraima. The border is in the Amazon region, a malaria endemic place, home of numerous species of malaria mosquitoes. By exploiting mass migration in 2015 as a quasi-experiment, I find that malaria incidence was 26% in 2017 and that cases of malaria doubled with respect to 2014 in the Brazilian border.
Exploring the dynamics between migration and malaria is critical to anticipating changes in the geography of malaria as low endemic places can promptly become epidemic places. Migrants can be active transmitters or passive acquirers. While traveling, ill migrants act as malaria reservoirs, or alternatively if healthy, they can be exposed to new hazards. Findings from this research suggest that places where refugees settle, and their living conditions have implications on malaria incidence. Overcrowded camps are usually pathogenic environments lacking highly of sanitation services. Latrines and standing water produce breeding grounds for mosquito proliferation and overcrowding increases the risk of vector contact. Moreover, the Amazonas region is experiencing rapid ecosystem changes due to climate change and deforestation, leading itself to changes in the ecology of vector-borne diseases.
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
2:30pm - 4:00pm
Location: White 209
View the full Fall 2019 ARE Seminar Schedule
For more information, contact: Tatiana Andreyeva at tatiana.andreyeva@uconn.edu